[HPFGU-OTChatter] Vegetarian food in Israel + israeli food

[yael oren]

  inyron: "Falafel is vegetarian, right?  Are a lot of foods I can find there?  
  Are a lot of people?  I mean, I shouldn't have a problem finding 
  enough food, right?  Can I ask the person I'm buying it from?  Do 
  most people there speak Hebrew and English?  Would a college dining 
  hall have vegetarian meals?  I have some problems with my college 
  here in the states supplying enough non-meat protein products."

One by one:

- Falafel is vegetarian. It's made of roughly ground chickpeas rolled to small balls and deep-fried.

- You can easily find vegetarian foods here. The soy-based replacements are extremely developed here. In the supermarkets, they very often overtake the meats section. In restaurants, you can almost always get special vegetarian dishes, and if not, there are still simple non-meat-based foods.

- There are many vegetarians here, but they are certainly not the majority.

- In university cafeterias there is almost always a vegetarian option. Because of Kosher issues, some cafeterias don't serve meat at all.

- Usually people will tell you if there's meat in your meal. The simplest way to make sure would be to ask if it's "Kosher Parve" (no meat, no dairy products) or "Kosher Halavi" (no meat, containing dairy products). I wouldn't try this method in the Jerusalem Arab restaurants, though. They'll simply tell you it's not Kosher at all.

- Most people here speak at least basic English and will be very eager to help you any way they can.

I hope that reassured you a bit. If you have any more questions, feel free to e-mail me either on-list or off-list (yael_pou at hotmail.com). Give me a call when you get here, maybe we can arrange a tiny HP4GU get-together :).

  inyron: "who is celebrating her third-year-as-a-vegetarian anniversary this 
  month.  Yay!  That doesn't seem like much, does it?"

congratulations! Been one for ten years, until I've been told it's either that or babies. Chose the babies.


Amy: "What =is= Israeli food?  I've been to Israel and I still don't know.  
Except for falafel, of course, which I could live on (and die happily 
of clogged arteries) but which will do nothing to advance an argument 
that Israelis eat more healthfully."

Oh. Israeli food is a fusion between the local Middle-east / Mediterranean foods and what folks brought from their east-European roots. some examples:

- Hummus (of course) with ful (large type of beans) hard boiled egg, pine-nuts and some spices. Eaten with pita-bread and maybe onions.

- Thina: liquid spread made of sesame seeds and spices. Always a side-dish for something else.

- Felafel. Eaten inside pita with hummus, thina, salad, pickled everything and chips.

- Fresh thin cut vegetable salad. *Not* what other people call a 'salad'.

- a variety of other salads, based on eggplant, cabbage, and many other vegetables. An Israeli restaurant will usually present you with ~ten types of tiny salads and some hot pita bread before you give your order.

- Anything filled with rice and meat: cabbage leaves, vine leaves, onions, zucchini, green or red peppers...

- Barbecued chicken/ship parts. Seasoned, with no sauce.

- chips (what can we do?)

- Ptitim (=flakes): baked flour based "seeds", cooked in water and spices. Usually not very tasty *shrugs*

- Shawarma: turkey or ship chopped meat cooked in a very special way on a huge pole in front of an open fire. usually served inside a lafa (large flat pita) with hummus, thina, salad, chips and some hot sauce.

- pickled hot peppers and a hot-sauce called "sehug" are very common here.


There is also a variety of other ethnical foods which we have assimilated, but i'll spare you.


yael *who will retire from this thread now, to everyone's relief*









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